After school shooting, Florida leaders propose new gun laws

Friday

Feb 23, 2018 at 1:27 PMFeb 23, 2018 at 5:55 PM

The changes proposed by Scott and lawmakers are expected to cost close to $500 million.

John Kennedy GateHouse Capital Bureau @JKennedyReport

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott and state legislative leaders on Friday formally responded to the Parkland school shooting that last week killed 17 people by issuing a wide-ranging package of proposals aimed at improving school safety and keeping guns away from the mentally ill.

The changes proposed by Scott and lawmakers are expected to cost close to $500 million.

They include barring anyone under age 21 from buying a gun, adding more law enforcement on school campuses and giving cops and courts more authority to take guns away from the mentally unstable, or those accused of stalking, domestic violence and other violations.

The Republican governor and leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature refused, however, to call for a ban on assault-style weapons or any limit on high-capacity gun magazines.

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old charged with the murders at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school used an AR-15 rifle to commit the slaughter in just minutes, authorities said.

“I know there are some who are advocating a mass takeaway of Second Amendment rights for all Americans,” Scott said. “That is not the answer. Keeping guns away from dangerous people and people with mental issues is what we need to do.”

Scott opened the news conference to showcase his proposals by slowly reading the names of the school victims.

Some 100 students from the school were among the 2,500 people who converged this week on the Florida Capitol – with a central demand being a ban on assault-style weapons.

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, whose legislation banning such firearms has not gotten a hearing in the House, said that the governor and Republican legislative leaders were misdirected in their proposed changes.

He said what they’re now seeking is “to reinvest in the same system that failed them at every single level.”

“What we need to be focusing on gun safety,” Smith said. “That is absolutely the issue.”

Although not in the governor’s plan, proposals in the House and Senate would make all gun purchases subject to the same 72-hour waiting period currently in place for buying handguns in Florida, which leaders said allows time for criminal history checks.

The Legislature also is looking to bar those judged mentally defective or who have been institutionalized for mental illness from possessing weapons – expanding a prohibition which currently exists only for gun purchases.

The age 21 or over requirement for gun purchases would allow those younger to have a weapon – a provision designed to still allow for younger hunters and sport-shooters. Similarly, the age barrier doesn’t apply to younger people in law enforcement or active military.

Another change where Scott and lawmakers are in agreement is a ban on bump stocks, attachments that can make semi-automatic weapons fire faster – almost like machine guns. The gunman who killed 58 people in Las Vegas had a dozen weapons outfitted with bump stocks.

Getting rid of bump stocks is one of the few gun restrictions the National Rifle Association supports. The organization opposes the change in age restrictions proposed in Tallahassee.

Scott, though, said the proposals his office has put together was completed without consultation from the NRA or its longtime Florida lobbyist, Marion Hammer, who has said little publicly since the Valentine’s Day shooting in Broward County.

Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said lawmakers are trying to craft a "delicate balance." But he added that any attempt to ban high-powered weapons would not "show fidelity to the constitution."

House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, also said there was no need to limit the types of weapons available in Florida – or their capacity.

“That was never the issue. It was myriad breakdowns by government,” Corcoran said, after records show that Cruz’s dangerous actions and threats were not effectively tracked by state and local agencies and the FBI.

While Scott said he doesn’t believe in arming teachers – an idea endorsed by President Donald Trump – the governor would authorize sheriff’s offices to train school personnel to help protect students, if sought by local school boards.

The House and Senate embrace a similar proposal, outlining a “marshal program” that would have law enforcement and screened school personnel serve as part of school security teams.

A similar “Sentinel “ program in Polk County allows such on-site security after volunteers receive 16.5-days of training, along with other requirements.

Scott and lawmakers, though, are mostly aligned on a host of school safety steps, including mandatory “active shooter” drills and more outlets for students to warn about someone they fear as poised to do harm.

But much of the focus from Republican leaders is on keeping guns out of the hands of those deemed mentally unstable.

Efforts to enhance the state’s Baker Act, which allows someone to be confined involuntarily for 72-hours, would include steps that would allow law enforcement to remove guns from a person’s home for at least a 60-day period.

Scott is calling for $50 million more for mental health services, and also wants every sheriff’s office to have a Department of Children & Families case manager embedded to assist with individuals considered repeat mental health cases in a community.

Scott wants to hire the 67 additional DCF workers by July 15.

Dr. Julie Kessel, a St. Petersburg psychiatrist active with the Florida League of Women Voters, which has joined to push for banning military-style guns in Florida, said honing in on mental illness will not stop the risk of mass shootings.

“Aggression is the most common predictor of these shootings — aggressive intent and access to weapons,” Kessel said.

She added, “People with mental health disorders are not out doing mass shootings. They’re more likely to be victims of a shooter.”

The flurry of proposals Friday will begin making their way through House and Senate committees Monday, as lawmakers begin the last two scheduled weeks of the 2018 session.

The price tag on the array of measures is significant. But Senate Budget Chair Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said the state has at least $3 billion of reserves which could be tapped – and few are disputing the need for action.

Scott said that among the initiatives that could be sacrificed: $180 million in tax cuts he’s proposed. Many are sales-tax holidays, including some intended to encourage the purchase of hurricane supplies, inspired by last year’s Hurricane Irma – a disaster whose impact has faded at a Capitol now trained on last week’s shooting.

“If providing this funding means we won’t be able to cut taxes this year, so be it,” Scott said. “If we have to give up some of the projects we all hold near and dear, so be it.”

Scott said the mission of lawmakers has changed.

“We are all elected to come to Tallahassee to represent the best interests of Floridians,” he said. “And today, there is nothing more important than to do all we can to make sure that an horrific, evil act like the Parkland shooting, never happens again.”

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